


you can fit me inside the necklace you got when you were sixteen, next to your heartbeat where i should be

by propertyofchoni



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Archie Andrews is a Good Friend, Betty Cooper & Toni Topaz Friendship, Bisexual Fangs Fogarty, Bisexual Toni Topaz, Cheryl Blossom & Betty Cooper Friendship, Cheryl Blossom Needs a Hug, Endgame Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, F/F, F/M, Kevin Keller is a Good Friend, Lesbian Cheryl Blossom, M/M, Protective Sweet Pea (Riverdale), Protective Toni Topaz, Soft Cheryl Blossom, Toni Topaz Needs a Hug, Veronica Lodge is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:08:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23912809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/propertyofchoni/pseuds/propertyofchoni
Summary: toni topaz, twenty-two, is a photographer at 'lodge's modelling industry', which is owned by veronica lodge, her best friend, whom she met in college. fangs fogarty and sawyer (sweetpea) peabody are virtually toni's brothers and work with her as body guards. kevin keller is also part of the team. he styles hair, does makeup and choses what the models wear. they're a good team.cheryl blossom, twenty-three, is a supermodel, wanted by every modelling company and needed by every front cover. her cousin, and best friend, betty cooper, is her manager, only doing what's best for the redhead. archie andrews is betty's boyfriend and cheryl's brother-like best friend. he will stop at nothing to assure that the two women he loves the most are protected and happy.everything changes for everyone when cheryl signs a contract with lodge's modelling industry.ortoni topaz, a photographer, comes across cheryl blossom, a supermodel.
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Fangs Fogarty/Kevin Keller, Veronica Lodge/Sweet Pea
Comments: 7
Kudos: 30





	1. cheryl (bombshell) blossom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> notes:  
> hey! this is my first fanfic on ao3.  
> i've been on wattpad for two years now, but i never took fanfic writing seriously.  
> i'd sort of make it up as i went, but with this one, i've got a plot :)  
> the first two chapters may seem to drag on, but they tell you cheryl and toni's backstory,  
> so i guess that they're pretty important, but just stick with it, i promise that it gets more interesting.  
>  enjoy!

cheryl blossom is powerful.

_extremely_ powerful.

born from a millionaire's wife, little cheryl blossom learned from a young age that power is the key to _everything_. she wasn't born alone though. cheryl blossom was born two minutes after her twin brother, jason blossom. they were inseparable. but, despite their inevitable bond, clifford and penelope blossom had always had a favourite.

jason.

their son, their golden boy, their true pride and joy.

so much, in fact, that they would neglect cheryl. only paying attention to her brother. birthdays came and left, but jason was the only one to receive anything on those days, but, being the kind-hearted soul that he was, he always shared his presents with his sister. he wasn't necessarily allowed to, but that didn't stop him from doing so.

sometimes, their favouritism was so immense that they would beat cheryl for the smallest of things. from staying up past her bedtime, to being just a mere second past curfew, the girl would be on the receiving end of clifford's belt, or penelope's open palm. but, there was nothing that she could do about it.

for having a son to carry out his legacy was always clifford's dream. that was, until, sixteen years later when he raised a pistol to his boy's head, aimed right between his eyes, and pulled the trigger, and then hung himself months after the truth came out.

and for cheryl blossom, this was only the beginning of her downfall.

___

cheryl types rapidly on her keyboard in her penthouse's living room. she has never _needed_ to look for work: _she_ was needed. but for whatever bizarre reason, the redhead felt a sudden urge to look.

maybe it was the recent death of her mother, who had mistreated her throughout all of her childhood. maybe it was the extensive amount of alcohol that was currently sitting in her stomach. maybe it was early midlife crisis that she is experiencing.

cheryl didn't know. nor did she care.

her mother's death hasn't come easy on her. regardless of the colossal amount of pain that the woman had thrown at her, the oceans upon oceans of tears that she had been the reason behind, and the multitude of scars and bruises that she had marked upon her vey own daughters skin, cheryl still felt like complete and utter _shit_.

cheryl has been alone in this world since her beloved jayjay had been eradicated by the selfish, wicked, malevolent man that cheryl once called her 'father'. but after finding out she truly was by herself, she had slipped into a deep, _deep_ depression.

sure, cheryl and penelope didn't communicate during her last weeks, moths, years, even, but that didn't stop her from thinking about her every time she bit into a chocolate bar, or opened a bottle of wine.

_'calories are unnecessary, cheryl.'_

she would hiss, ripping whatever item of food or drink away that cheryl would have in her hands.

it also wouldn't stop her from hearing her mother scoff at her appearance or spit insults at her as she walked past a mirrors.

_'you're revolting. no man could ever possibly want you.'_

she would taunt and tease at any given chance. however, cheryl didn't care. she didn't want a _man_. she can't _stand_ the sight of a chiseled jaw, or heavy eyebrows. just the thought of large, veiny hands disgusted her. she would much rather wake up to a soft smile and the gentle touch of a woman than have to hear heavy, obnoxious snores every night.

yes, cheryl blossom was a lesbian.

she had desperately tried to shelter this during her abusive upbringing, for if her parents were to ever find out that they would be getting _two_ daughters-in-law instead of the one, they would truly be appalled.

but, of course, cheryl had her suspicions that her family knew. the way that penelope would sneer every time her daughter's eyesight followed a girl's movement with pure adoration, and the way that clifford would twist his face into the most hideous snarl whenever the redhead would blush at the television when girls would appear in limited clothing.

penelope and clifford blossom were homophobic, fastidious, self-absorbed, materialistic, power-craving pieces of shit, and cheryl couldn't exmphasise that enough.

but jason. sweet, innocent jason. he would be the one to show his sister inappropriate videos or pictures of women, for cheryl could never even _attempt_ to hide something like that from her twin brother. jason could read her like a book. every slight facial change, every adaptation of her posture, jason knew _exactly_ what the reason behind it was and would stop at nothing to find a way to make his sister content again.

and he succeeded _every single time._

but when he was unwillingly dragged away from her, cheryl had to never, _ever_ succumb to exposure.

because if she were to be exposed, she would be vulnerable, and if she were to be vulnerable, she would be malled on by her fellow peers, and without the protection of her brother, she would be left to rot.

so that is why she never, _ever_ let her guard down.

she wore mask of makeup to school every day, which covered her symbols of lack of sleep and constant traces of her mother's torture. she wore an indestructible layer of armour - her designer aesthetic. she carried around her most almighty and reliable weapon: her posse of stupid, popularity-seeking morons.

she wasn't liked. being liked was one of the most foolish things for anyone to ever do. but what held even more ludicrousness was love.

sharing your deepest, darkest secrets to someone else, and when that person would leave you, they would not only shatter you heart into _hundreds_ of shards, but they'd also notify _hundreds_ of others about your confidential information. and that is _exactly_ why cheryl blossom never loved _._ it was something that she had promised herself that she would never, _ever_ do.

and so far, seven years later, she hadn't broken it.

however, her perfect goody two shoes cousin, elizabeth (betty) cooper, had fallen for archibald andrews at the young age of six. as soon as betty was able to talk, she'd had a thing for her next-door neighbour, but hadn't really taken her shot until the first year of middle school where she kissed his cheek in an exhilarating game of 'truth or dare'.

the pair had since gained a strong tension in the air, up until their freshmen year of high school, when the redheaded boy had scored a touch down and as his celebration, got his teammates to lift their football jerseys, revealing letters that read 'HOCO?' painted in red across their abs. archie knelt down onto one knee and held a bunch of flowers and a sign, that said 'will you go the extra **yard** , and **tackle** hoco with me?' despite how cliché and cringe it was, betty jumped into the boy's arms, earning a thunderous cheer from the crowd.

and just like the stereotypical all-american love story, 'barchie', as their classmates would call them, lasted throughout college, which is where betty and cheryl got especially close, sharing a dorm which consisted of just the two of them.

but all good things come with consequences, as because the redheaded girl escaped the tight clutches of her mother, she was forced to watch 'barchie's' lovey-dovey relationship. their 'adorable' affection, constant cuddling and loud love-making drove cheryl _insane,_ but anywhere was better than at thornhill, even if it meant third-wheeling with the campus' favourite couple.

despite cheryl's burning _hatred_ for love, she was happy for her cousin. archie was a good boy. he was jason's best friend since they were knee height, and ever since his passing, the other ginger boy had kept an eye out for his boy's sister, absolutely refusing to let anything remotely bad happen to her. and cheryl was thankful. but she couldn't shake the thought that he still _wasn't_ jason, and so she continued to keep on building her walls higher and higher and higher.

and somehow, the blossom girl managed to withstand the college parties, cheap beer and sweaty boys, and four years later she was walking across the graduation stage, collecting her bachelor's degrees in fashion, law and buissness, and just hearing the other students and their family members' erupt in applaud for her was what gave cheryl blossom _hope._

but she also thoroughly enjoyed watching archie collect his degrees in education and history, and betty gain hers in english and journalism. it was probably the happiest day of cheryl's life.

they then had to think about their future. the trio had gotten so close that to separate from each other was far out of the picture, but returning to there home town was also not where they wanted to go. cheryl would act like she didn't care about what the others' plans were, but deep, _deep_ down, she _loved_ the fact that they were so inclusive of her.

and, after a few months of thorough planning and research, they decided to bite the bullet and move to new york city. which wasn't _too_ far from where they grew up, but also wasn't so close that archie's parents and betty's mum would be driving down every other weekend. of course, cheryl needn't worry about that predicament for herself, because her deceased brother and father wouldn't be visiting any time soon, and neither would her abusive, spite-filled bitch of a 'mother'. in fact, she was glad that she would be permanently leaving the small town that she had called home for twenty-two years. she could _finally_ escape the traumatic horrors that it had thrust her way.

so, new york it was, and before they all knew it, with a little financial help from their parents (and cheryl's inheritance that she was _more_ than happy to put towards the move), the three were jetting off to busy new york in the autumn following their graduation.

with their degrees, they didn't think that getting jobs would be their first main problem during their move, but it turns out that not many people want to hire a bunch of kids, fresh to the state and inexperienced to work... and life.

so they were stuck for about three months, living off of cheryl's inheritance money, which archie and betty felt immensely guilty for, but the girl would reassure them that 'her 'father's' crime money would most likely last her until after her death, wether she liked it or not'. so, with that in mind, the gang began to get their heads down and start to look for more realistic jobs. and, after a while, cheryl got an interview for an apprentice in a law firm.

sure, she'd only be earning next to minimal wage, and just doing paperwork and coffee runs, but it was a start, right?

so off she set on a very chilly january morning, the frosty wind nipping at her red ears and somehow managing to turn her already incredibly pale skin even paler. that morning, she had received a 'good luck' from archie, who was sort of acting like her hype-man, and a long speech from betty about how even if she didn't get the job, that they'd still try. and after one big group hug, they let their sister-like friend leave their crappy, but affordable, apartment to seek employment.

the law firm was in a walking distance, which was perfect for cheryl, as she loved exercise, but also _despised_ crowded places, which was pretty ironic as she had decided to move to one of the busiest states in america. but, her thinking behind it was that if she was started a new chapter in her life, she may as well try new things, and push herself to do what she doesn't feel comfortable with.

but, just as she was about to walk inside of the grand-looking building, she was stopped by a dark-haired man, who was ever so slightly going grey. his eyes were beautiful swirls of honey that seemed to instantly get ahold of her, and his charming smile was one out of a fairytale. granted, the man was about fifteen years older than her, and cheryl was a raging lesbian, but if she born a few years earlier and just so happened to like men, she wouldn't mind getting to know this one.

the man had tried to say something in her ear, but due to the deafening noise of chatter and on-going traffic, cheryl didn't hear a word that he had had said. but she didn't need to, for the man had slid a business card into her hand as he was pulling away from his ear. she took a quick glance down at it, the words ' **TOPAZ PHOTOGRAPHY** ' electronically engraved into it. she looked back up to the man, smiled and nodded, watching as his face lit up, flashing the most perfect set of pearly white teeth that cheryl had ever seen. he winked at her, but not in a creepy way - the action had friendly intentions behind it.

as the man was walking away, cheryl turned to take one last look at him. he was holding his thumb and his pinky finger out, like a surfer, and mouthing the words 'call me.' and before she knew it, he had disappeared into the overloaded streets of new york city, leaving a perplexed, yet intrigued, blossom behind him.

not quite sure of what happened, cheryl quickly shoved the card into the pocket of her black suit pants, took a deep breath, and walked inside of the law firm.

the interview went rather well, cheryl's politeness had definitely helped her a little bit, but what really tipped her over the edge was her charm. her blossom charm. and as much as she hated it, she was just the tiniest, most fundamental, bit grateful for the hundreds of business meetings that her parents had brought her and jason to, and her mother had forced her to attend after her father and brother had passed, because they had taught her charm, manners, elegance and intelligence that were required for a perfect interview.

feeling mostly confident in what she had just done, she made her way back to archie and betty, who hugged her immediately, despite cheryl not even telling them anything about it.

after a night of greasy pizza and sugar-filled fizzy drinks, cheryl called it a night, waved the others goodbye, and headed for the bathroom.

she showered, washing her body and hair free of all of the dirt and bacteria that she probably attracted during the day. she got out, washed her face again and then brushed her teeth, finishing with mouthwash. she danced her way back into her bedroom and put on underwear and an oversized t-shirt, that once belonged to jason, but after hundreds of wears, lost his signature scent.

picking up her clothes from the day, cheryl watched as a small black and pink card fell from her trousers. she smiled, reminiscing on the man that had handed it to her just outside the law firm. she bent down and stood back up with it in her hand.

'TOPAZ PHOTOGRAPHY

capturing beauty since 1955

call ~ 31521421700 for details'

but little did cheryl blossom, archie andrews and betty cooper know just how much that card would change their lives forever.


	2. antoinette (toni) topaz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!  
> so this is toni's introduction/backstory.  
> after this chapter, the start of the story will begin, but i recommend reading this to understand what's happening later on.  
> but there is a small rape part in the middle of this, so if you have any triggers, please don't read it. your wellbeing is more important that this :)  
> but anywaysss, enjoy!

toni topaz is loving.

despite being born to sixteen year old tobias topaz, the heir to the throne of a distinguished gang, the southside serpents, little toni topaz was showered with love by him and her fifteen year old mother, zoe.

growing up on the southside of town, she was exposed to violence, drugs, manslaughters and more, but it didn't affect the beautiful soul that she had inherited from her parents. toni only had one grandparent growing up: her grandfather, thomas topaz. zoe's parents had disowned her and kicked her out of the house ever since they found out about her accidental pregnancy at such a young age.

they never even _bothered_ to meet their granddaughter. they had no interest in her whatsoever. they didn't care about her name, her gender, her health, or anything. they didn't care for _her_.

and her other grandmother had died whilst giving birth to her uncle, gabriel. but from the stories that her grandfather had told her, she had been the most beautiful, generous and kind woman in the world. she put others first and always saw the best in _everyone_ , no matter what their background was.

the topaz's are _loving._

ever since her birth, toni had two best friends. franklin fogarty and sawyer peabody. her father was best friends with their dad's and had introduced her to them ever since she could breathe. franklin was the oldest, three days older than herself, and sawyer was the baby of the group, being born a whole two days younger than toni.

toni spent most of her time with the boys, and their bond only grew stronger as time went on. they were all only children, but to each other, they were siblings. one day, they were at preschool and a girl was being especially mean to the topaz girl, so franklin took it upon himself to sink his teeth into her arm. his teeth were so deep in that he drew blood from her arm. whilst this was going on, sawyer was playing with toni, trying to cheer her up after she had been called names by the other girl.

however, franklin then had to face the girl's brother, who had ran over as soon as he was the incident occur. he shoved toni's friend to the floor and pounced on him, but was dragged off by the workers.

after that day, the trio never saw the girl or her brother again, but they had been seriously told off by both, their parents, _and_ their teachers. but none of them cared.

and that is how the boys earned themselves the nicknames 'fangs', and 'sweetpea'.

for fangs had used his 'fangs' to impale someone, and sweetpea had been a 'sweetheart' by making toni happy again.

fangs, sweetpea and toni. the inevitable next generation of their dads's unbreakable friendship

talking about dads, toni's father was a photographer, and so was his father, and his father, and so on. it was a topaz tradition. but not one topaz wasn't born _loving_ the hobby. so for her fifth birthday, he had gifted his little girl her first ever camera. the young family of three then spent the _whole_ day walking through meadows, forests and all of the best places tobias went for his photoshoots.

he showed her how to use a camera and how to capture the most beautiful things. he taught her that the most perfect things can also be the most broken. toni didn't understand it, but nodded her head eagerly, just as she had been doing the whole day. zoe and tobias chuckled at their daughter's excitement.

they were the perfect family.

that was, until, zoe was diagnosed with stage three leukemia when toni was only six years old. her mother had to stay in a hospital, and was only rarely allowed to go out. but when they were out, tobias would take his favourite girls in the world to the fanciest restaurants and the afterwards would drive them to the most stunning cliffside that displayed the most superb views.

toni and her dad would bring their cameras and take as many photos as their film would allow them to. she would make her parents do several poses, but the best photo that she ever took was one with the branches of the trees arching into frame, their vibrant leaves contrasting with the pitch black sky, that was only lit up by the town that lay below's lights. her parents were facing each other, but they were shown as silhouettes. zoe's head was on tobias' shoulder, and his head was rested on her own. their hands were locked together, placed between them both.

her parents had fallen so in love with the photo that they had hung it in their bedroom. but tobias didn't publish it, because it was theirs, and nobody else _needed_ to see it.

but, the unavoidable happened, and zoe lost her battle to cancer, leaving behind two broken souls.

for the longest time, toni didn't feel anything. she was numb. but then after a couple of weeks it all hit her, crashing down on faster and harder than a tsunami's first impact. she would find herself sobbing into her father's arms almost every night, begging that her beloved mother would come back to her, but, of course, she never did. she was in denial, and honestly thought that it was some sick game, and that her mother would return and life would go back to normal.

but she never did, and for toni topaz, life never _truly_ went back to normal.

zoe was cremated and her ashes were thrown over the cliffside where toni's photo was taken. toni sat down on the cliff and hugged her knees to her chest tightly, burying her head in the space between her legs and her chest. she felt her dad sit next to her and wrap his loving arm around her shoulders. when she looked up, she saw him gazing up into the clouds, tears brimming in his eyes and a sad smile playing at his lips. he nodded and sniffed before turning to his daughter, where he held out a ring.

it turns out that he had put some of zoe's ashes into the gemstone of the ring. he had a matching ring too. tobias had put 'topaz' diamond into the ring. his diamond was red, and toni's was pink, and they agreed to wear them everyday for the rest of their lives,

at the age of nine, her father's photography spiralled upwards, and received a call from an agency is new york, suggesting that he moved there and discussed business. they both didn't want to go. toni didn't want to leave fangs and sweetpea, and her dad didn't want to give over the heir to the gang. but, after a thorough evaluation, he decided that it was for the best of them both.

he gave the over his position in the serpents to his younger brother, gabe, and toni was forced to say goodbye to her brother-like best friends and her grandfather. after a last tight hug from them all at the airport, the topaz father and daughter were on their way to their new life.

___

they moved to a decent sized apartment and lived a fairly good life.

on toni's first day of school, she met a girl named veronica lodge, whom she quickly became best friends with, but never forgot about her brothers back home, who she face-timed almost every night on her dad's laptop.

tobias was offered a place in a photography company and even got his own business, which he called ' **TOPAZ PHOTOGRAPHY** '. was it basic? very. did he care? not all all. his family had all been photographers, so why not name a photography business after them?

toni's middle school years flew by, and, before she knew it, she was in high school, where her and veronica were in every class together and became the most popular girls in their year, being invited to every party and _craved_ by every boy.

neither of them dated in their freshmen year, but as soon as they became sophomores, a boy by the name of nick st. clair asked toni to homecoming. she happily obliged as he was clearly a handsome and well-mannered boy. veronica was so proud of her best friend, but toni absolutely refused to not find the raven-haired girl a date: she made it her mission.

and she succeeded. veronica went with a boy named reggie mantle, the captain of the football team.

the two hottest girls in school with the hottest guys. what a cliché.

they had the best day ever, they drank cheap and calorific punch, danced on the dance floor, spoke to other students and just genuinely had a good time. but all good things come with consequences, and before toni knew it, her vision was blurring and an ear-piercing screech was ringing in her ears. she could feel herself stumbling into nick's arms.

she felt herself being virtually pulled out of the crowded gymnasium and thrown into the backseat of what she thought was a car. she regained her vision for about ten seconds and watched as nick stripped himself free of his clothes and lowered himself onto her.

and then everything went black.

three years later and toni still couldn't comprehend what nick had done to her.

she had woken up naked and cold on the side of the school. she heard veronica yelling her name, but felt too disturbed to even move. she knew what had happened to her. she had drifted in and out of consciousness during being in nick's car. her whole body was in pain and she was constantly shivering.

she looked up and saw veronica run towards her, panic evidently shimmering in her eyes.

she kept on apologising, but all toni wanted right now was her dad.

veronica carried the girl into her car (it wasn't hard, seeing a toni was only abut 5'2 at the time), and drove her to her apartment, where she rang tobias and asked him to come out with clothes.

her dad and her best friend dressed her in the car whilst veronica cried and explained everything to the man, who was clenching his jaw shut and nodding slowly, obvious anger showing in his face.

toni stayed silent for the rest of the night, sleeping in a bed with her father to make her feel more safe. she let tears fall into tobias' chest all night, his hand stroking her back soothingly.

the brunette shook her head from the thoughts of the past as she walked onto the graduation stage, listening as veronica and her dad cheered the loudest out of everyone else, earning a soft giggle from the topaz girl. toni collected her high school diploma and walked down the steps, feeling like a whole new woman.

her rapist was in jail and she had survived high school. she was strong.

fast forward the duration of the summer holidays, and she was moving into her college dorm with veronica. she was studying photography and business, whilst her best friend was taking business, like toni, and fashion. they would have to spend the next four years together, and they couldn't look forward to it more. ever since middle school they had _dreamt_ of this moment.

after unpacking, they collapsed onto the sofa, laughing hysterically for no apparent reason. but they were interrupted by a knock on the door. toni jumped up and opened it with a smile. she pulled the door inwards, revealing her childhood best friends. she threw herself into their arms. for the past nine and a half years, the only source of communication that they had exchanged were face-times, texting and the odd phone call, so this hug was the most emotion-filled embraced that the trio had ever shared.

it turns out that fangs and pea had planned to go to the same college as toni with her dad and veronica. but behind the boys, who were at least a foot taller than her, she saw another person. fangs introduced him as kevin keller, his boyfriend. she hugged him and introduced herself, before inviting them all in.

college is going to be good.

and it was.

it was a rollercoaster, in fact, countless parties, and sporting games, but also tons of studying and hardwork. over the course of the four years, kevin and fangs had stayed together, and veronica and sweetpea had started dating in their second year. but toni hadn't wanted a love life yet, thanks to her shitty homecoming experience.

but right now, they were celebrating their graduation, downing beers and taking shots. life was good.

___

since graduating, veronica had set up her own modelling agency, with financial help from her father. she had hired toni as the photographer, kevin as the stylist/head of fashion and sweet pea and fangs as the rotating body guards/secretaries. it had only taken about a year for everything to kick off. part of toni felt guilty for not joining her dad in his business, but he had assured her that what she was doing right now is much better for a twenty-two year old than what he was doing.

so toni moved in with the other four and got her life started.

they were all gathered in their shared penthouse when veronica's phone beeped.

little did the squad know just how much that notification would change their lives forever...


End file.
